
Best Players I Ever Had The Opportunity To Play
Tigran Petrosian
World Champion 1963-1969
I had this Simul date on my calendar for months. I was hoping I'd be able to apply what I had been learning in my new research on the Benko Gambit. Sure enough, playing the black pieces, the opening went pretty much like I hoped, but as we went into the middle game, Petrosian just continued to build a slight advantage move by move.
Benko Gambit Half-Accepted: Modern Variation
I would not have resigned on the 35th move of this game against an equal opponent. Even though I was slightly down in material, my fighting instinct would have driven me to continue for a while at least. But I thought it would be plain rude to make a World Champion prove he could checkmate me when he had a 2 pawn advantage. It was a lot of fun, and not too embarrassing.
Walter Browne
US Champion '74 '75 '77 '80 '81 '83
Sicilian Defense: Open, Scheveningen, Keres Attack
He was moving fast and I wasn't able to give this game as much thought as I'd have liked to. Still, due to a slight inaccuracy on Browne's part at move 10, the game was reasonably equal. Unfortunately, within three moves, thanks to a minor oversight (massive blunder) in which I left a knight underprotected, the game was essentially over. Determined to get my money's worth, I made the champion play on until move 21, at which time I resigned.